AMARAVATI: South Central Railway (SCR) General Manager Vinod Kumar Yadav met Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Monday and explained him the status of various pending projects in the zone.

Mr. Yadav, during his maiden visit to Vijayawada, also met Chief Secretary S.P. Tucker and Director-General of Police N. Sambasiva Rao. The General Managar, along with Vijayawada Divisional Railway Manager Ashok Kumar, Additional DRM K. Venugopal Rao and officials of other wings, met Mr. Naidu at Velagapudi and discussed the pending projects, infrastructure development, opening of new stations and other issues.

Addressing media persons later, Mr.Yadav said the Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) had completed survey on connectivity to the new Srate Capital, Amaravati, and a report had been submitted to the Railway Board for approval. Once the Board gave the nod, the work would begin, he said.

“The approximate cost of the project is ₹ 2,679 crore. The work consists of 56 km of a double line from Yerrupalem to Namburu via Amaravati and 50 km of single line from Pedakurapadu to Amaravati-Sattenapalli and Narsaraopet,” Mr. Yadav explained.

Projects discussed

Pending and ongoing projects such as a new line between Banaganapalli-Nandyal, electrification of the line between Guntakal-Wadi station, Mattampalli-Janpahad, doubling of Mantralayam-Matmarri section, third line from Vijayawada-Kondapalli, new lines between Nadikude-Sri Kalahasti and Kotipalli-Narsapur were discussed.

“We requested the State government to cooperate in land acquisition process for expediting the projects and Mr. Tucker responded positively. RVNL is executing the work on doubling and electrification of Vijayawada-Gudivada-Bhimavaram-Narsapuram and Gudivada-Machilipatnam and Bhimavaram-Nidadavole lines,” Mr. Yadav said.

Safety first

Mr. Yadav said top priority was being given for safety and the SCR was making efforts to remove all unmanned level crossings in a phased manner and increase the average speed of trains.

“We are trying to construct Road Under Bridges (RUBs) or Road Over Bridges (ROBs) and Limited Height Subways and remove the manned level crossings to minimise accidents. Nine RUBs and ROBs were completed and works are under progress at 14 more bridges. Similarly, 23 manned level crossings and 138 unmanned level crossings were removed completely in the last few years,” he said.

A system had been devised to address the grievances of the staff who were working round the clock and the problems in running rooms and staff quarters would be solved. Earlier, he visited the food stalls, crew booking lobbyand waiting halls and interacted with the passengers at the Vijayawada railway station.